SeniorsCount is a community initiative to educate citizens in St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County about serious gaps in funding and delivery of services for residents 60 years of age and older who wish to continue to live independently.

We seek to improve the health, nutrition and quality of life for adults 60 and older.

Mid-East Area Agency on Aging will be participating in the 14th annual March for Meals – a month-long, nationwide celebration of Meals on Wheels and the homebound and vulnerable seniors who rely on its vital safety net. This March, MEAAA will team up with hundreds of local Meals on Wheels programs across America, to reach out to local communities to build the support that will enable it to deliver nutritious meals, friendly visits, and safety checks to area seniors all year long. As "more than just a meal," Meals on Wheels addresses three of the biggest threats of aging: isolation, hunger, and loss of independence. It not only makes economic sense to enable seniors to stay healthy and safe at home, but it improves the health and vibrancy of our communities. MEAAA’s Meals on Wheels program currently delivers 2,700 meals per day to homebound adults over the age of 60. For more information on all the programs and services MEAAA offers in its 4-county service area or to find out how you can volunteer or contribute, visitwww.agingmissouri.org.

Two of our Information & Assistance Specialists will be guests on the 'Senior Spotlight' radio show this Sunday in Franklin County. Jennifer and Jessica from our Franklin county Information and Assistance group spent an hour talking about some of the great programming that Mid-East offers.

Be sure to tune in to 'Senior Spotlight' on Sunday 2/21/2106 on KPLW AM1220 at 1:00 PM

12/21/2015 8:30 AM |
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Medicare Fee-for-Service utilization and payment data available for Home Health AgenciesData serves as comprehensive resource for information on home health agencies costs and services

As part of our efforts to improve care delivery, payments to providers, and the sharing and utilization of information, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today released a public data set that provides information on services provided to Medicare beneficiaries by home health agencies. The Home Health Agency Utilization and Payment Public Use File (Home Health Agency PUF) contains information on utilization, payments, and submitted charges organized by provider, state and home health resource group.

"The Home Health Agency data made available today focuses on our initiative of achieving better care, smarter spending, and healthier people throughout our health care system, "said CMS Administrator Andrew Slavitt. "CMS has been a pioneer in greater data transparency and views it as key to a more effectively functioning health care system where information flows more freely."

The Home Health Agency PUF was created from CMS administrative claims data for Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in the fee-for-service program available from the CMS Chronic Condition Data Warehouse (www.ccwdata.org). The data covers calendar year 2013 and is based on home health agency Part A institutional claims. These new data include information on 11,062 home health agencies, over 6 million claims, and over $18 billion in Medicare payments for 2013. The data set does not contain any individually identifiable information about Medicare beneficiaries.

Growing the Qualified Entities Program to Support Informed Decision-making by Consumers and Providers

December 16

By Niall Brennan, CMS Chief Data Officer and the Director of the Office of Enterprise Data and Analytics (OEDA)

At CMS, we are committed to providing our stakeholders with information needed to support informed decision-making as they navigate the health care system. As such, we have been a government leader in promoting increased data transparency. For example, we have released data on geographic variation in Medicare utilization and quality, as well as data on provider level utilization, including prescribing patterns. A commitment to making such resources available puts engaged and empowered individuals at the center of their care, which is essential to transforming our system to one that delivers better care, smarter spending, and healthier people.

Today, I want to share some exciting developments related to the Qualified Entity (QE) program, which was established under the Affordable Care Act. The QE program facilitates the creation of publicly available performance reports and data that can be used to help improve provider quality, increase transparency in health care performance, and provide information for employers, consumer groups, patients, and caregivers to assist them in making more informed health care decisions.

There are currently 12 certified QEs – 11 QEs that will be reporting regionally and one QE that will be reporting nationwide. Since the launch of the program, two QEs have already released public performance reports. Today, I’m excited to announce further growth in the QE program with the approval of a second nationwide QE, Amino. With the addition of Medicare data, Amino will enhance its free service to help Americans make care decisions, including, for example, determining the providers from whom they choose to receive services.

Prior to the Affordable Care Act, provider reporting was fragmented, making it difficult for providers and consumers to access a comprehensive picture of provider performance on quality and cost. The QE program enables qualified entities to create a more complete picture of provider quality and cost of care by combing Medicare data with data from multiple health plans.

As we continue our effort to make actionable information available to consumers and providers alike, we are looking forward to the future release of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that will implement changes to the QE program enacted by Congress under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). This legislation expands permissible uses and disclosures under the QE program. We look forward to receiving comments from interested stakeholders when the NPRM is released.